KUNG PAO (Bogota) CD
That's the right album, if you need a heavy kick in your ass. New York's KUNG PAO are offering with the debut "Bogota", released back in 2000 on Maduro Records, a brutal and heavy riff-fueled maelstrom. The first three tracks are a fine and raw combination of 70's Mountain-like riffage and Noise Amphetamine Records-styled stuff, as Helmet f.e. Especially the mighty vocals of guitarist Chovie D got enough power to blew away the walls of Jericho, if they weren't still blown away, and so its somehow logical that track 5 is called "Iron Lung". Another funny title is "D is for Denim", because I ever thought Turbonegro are the kings of denim, which leads me to the coverartwork, which looks like a pocket of a jeans trouser. But that's maybe the only thing, they've got in common with the Norwegian Denim-worshippers. KUNG PAO are a real powertrio and instead of much virtuosity, the got a truckload full of brutality.
After the first excellent three tracks, KUNG PAO drifts more into the before mentioned Helmet-like direction and for my taste, "Bogota" becomes more an average album and it seems as if the band was a bit out of ideas. But if you dig this style of Rock, then it's the right choice. For me personal, the first three tracks are amazingly devastating, with their melodic blues-drenched brutality including some kind of doomy vibe and if there would be more on it, I would love this album. But apart of it all, KUNG PAO are trying to say it all in their sonic and hard-hittin words, and that's something I appreciate more than any kind of trendy awareness.
(KK)